The present invention relates to a read/write head carrying mechanism for a floppy disk drive. More particularly, the present invention concerns improvements of a read/write head carrying mechanism which is adapted to bring upper and lower heads, respectively, into close contact with both sides of a floppy disk placed in a loaded position, cause the upper and lower heads reciprocate along a predetermined head moving path, and swing open the upper and lower heads away from each other during the loading or unloading of the floppy disk, thereby facilitating the insertion and ejection of a disk cartridge.
Hitherto, various types of floppy disk drives have been put to practical use so as to effect the reading/writing of information in a magnetic medium known as a floppy disk, particularly a 3.5-inch floppy disk, incorporated in a disk cartridge.
Among these types of floppy disk drives, a double head type having a pair of upper and lower heads and capable of effecting the reading/writing of information on both sides of a floppy disk has been a mainstream, and these upper and lower heads are reciprocated along a predetermined head moving path set in the radial direction of the floppy disk.
A typical floppy disk drive employs a longitudinally mounted carriage whose longitudinal axis extends in the direction of the aforementioned head moving path, and the longitudinal axis of the carriage is arranged to be in alignment with the head moving path, the carriage being reciprocated by a motor or the like.
In addition to such a longitudinally mounted carriage, a transversely mounted carriage whose longitudinal axis is arranged perpendicularly to a head moving path has also been proposed, and these two different types of carriages are used each in its proper way, as required.
In both of these types, however, a space must be secured for the upper and lower heads to permit the insertion or removal of a disk cartridge during the loading or unloading of the disk cartridge. Conventionally, either one of the heads, normally the upper head, is swung open upwardly, and the insertion and removal of the disk cartridge are carried out through a clearance formed thereby.
Hence, with a conventional apparatus, there has been a problem in that the thickness of the floppy disk drive increases for securing a space for the springing up of the upper head.
A floppy disk drive having such a large thickness has a drawback in that it is unable to cope with the trend toward a small thickness which computers have in recent years have been required to be provided.